Polar Plunge!

Oh shame on me- I just looked back at the last entry and it was Saturday. The plunge went off without a hitch on Sunday. The weather was perfect, sunny skies and not to windy, temps around 40! I had enough food for all the plungers and so many baked goods that I opened it up too everyone. The Starbucks coffee was a big hit! So my part was good-phew!!  And the plunge itself was amazing-99 plungers and over 100 spectators cheering them on. Danny dove in with gusto and Molly plunged right in too. Molly was crowned 2012 Polar Plunge Queen! What an honour! She had a tiara and was so excited. The neat thing that Barb did was to present her with a big stuffed polar bear instead of the traditional roses. She loved it!
We cleaned up and then quickly changed into our party clothes and headed to the Downtown Main Martini Bar for the fashion show. Molly did a wonderful job, the crowd was supportive and friendly. We won 6 items in the silent auction too. 100% of the proceeds from the night go to Special O and the amount so far is over $30,000 total. WOW!
here are some pictures...

ugly naked guy sporting a Special Olympics tshirt!

Oh, My Lolli had special lolli's to benefit SO, yum!

of course we bought some

Shawne helps me pin on Danny's toga

he is ready to go!

my food team sets up the spread--

roving volunteers Alex and Charlotte were a huge help!

Our friend Gary, aka marsshmallow super man!

Danny starts his run in....

and here is is right after...what a face :)

and my boy won the Youngest Plunger award! Yay!

sitting on my suitcases!

Memories of packing days past....sitting on each others suitcases to get them to close. I am in the home stretch of packing, we will check about 10 bags and carry on a couple more! I know-it's probably ridiculous, but I have no idea what we will need. Watch, I'll wear the same pair of jeans everyday!
Tomorrow I have last minute phone issues, bank to grab the Eur's I ordered, girls to the doctor, bathrooms cleaned and floors vacuumed. So far...who knows what will come up tomrw :)
But we are totally excited and ready to go. We will land at 6am Friday morning and there will be a car to take us to the house. Jerr's co-worker  will meet us there and give us the keys. Jerry doesn't start work til Monday so hopefully we will settle in a bit. Lots more to come :) stayed tuned for the Dutch adventure!

Take Time for Friends!

AAhh! Friends! that is who makes life good. So in the midst of all the packing and kid shuffling I am blessed with friend time! I meet Sam at Starbucks for a latte on the couch. Big News--She is off to NYC in May. She will be getting a transitional teaching certificatein high school science and chemistry then getting a teaching job in a title one school in either the Bronx or Brooklyn. While teaching she will be getting her masters in education through the fellowship program she has a spot in. Wow! A new life is beginning for our Sam, and what a treat those kids are in store for with a teacher like her! Good Luck Sam!
Shawne was my second date--she had Charlotte over for the whole day, which was a gift to Charlotte. When she drove her home she asked if we could watch our bookclub movie, Sarah's Key. Now first response is "I have too much to get done", followed almost immediately by "lets do that!" The movie was good but the company was better. I will miss her!
Danny's costume is almost done, thanks to Roseanne! Cupid will fly tomorrow!
LOVE my friends and feel blessed to have them!

Snowmageddon? Not quite!

Well schools called it quits by 2am (i got up to pee, what can I say?) but when I got up at 7am you could still see the driveway. And no school?  More is coming, they said, hold on...but throughout the day we never saw more than 1 1/2 inches. We so didn't need a snowday, but it was fun!
At 7pm Danny and Ryan did stage a black-ops snow battle which was a blast!
We were able to go to the mall, the library, take Molly to her fittings for the fashion show, go to costco...in other words, NO PROBLEMS!
Those silly forecasters!
I got my new glasses, and I will post a snap and you can see what you think.
I also had a bra fitting at Hush, the intimate apparel boutique in downtown Brighton. Lisa, the owner, is so laid back, she made it easy, not weird, you know?
Molly is modeling a swimsuit and some black PJ's. I spent more on 3 bras than I probably have spent on all my underwear in my whole life! But they will last 4 years I was told. (is that all? who has had bras since college--come on, raise your hand! Anyway, I feel like a new gal, and hopefully look like one too!

The fifty year club gets larger!

Happy Birthday Laura Bedner!
Ed invited us to join him in surprising Laura at Cia Amicis tonight. We did a great job, all the guests were on time and we were curtained off in a private dining area. At 6:40 0n the nose Ed,Hannah and Laura arrived, and we all shouted "SURPRISE!"
Laura was totally shocked! I got to sit next to Diane Gale, aka Miss Gale-the girls ID teacher from Lindbom. It was great to catch up with her. Laura loved the open hearts pandora charm that Shawne and I gave her, and her friends Mina and Ahmad gave her 2 beads as well.  The 50 glasses were a big hit, and the birthday girl sash fit just perfectly.
Laura and I have been friends for 16 years I think! In that time we have really been each others family for partys and special occasions. We have gone to swim meets and SO events, band concerts,choir concerts,school plays,ball games..it has been wonderful. As I said in a short letter I wrote to her. "your friendship has been a golden thread that has woven itself through the years of our families lives. " I feel so thankful to have her in my life and ask you to say a birthday pray for her tomorrow!

Plunge meeting a success

Mary Jane expected 5 people and wound up with 15! It seems like we are in good shape, with food,parking,prizes,shirts, and downtown is fired up.
We are having a pub and shopping crawl on Thursday next, and then the plunge is Sunday, followed immediately by the fashion show. We can't wait! We were in the paper today, helping to publicize the plunge--fun!
Dentist for Charlotte, pick up her cake at costco(she is taking it to school tomorrow)taekwando,Ashley court.etc. kept me hopping today.
Tomorrow is Charlotte's birthday! 19years old. My gosh-what a long strange trip its been :)

We've Got a Roof in Rotterdam!

Got some great news today...after all the fussing,freezing and finding on the web, we have a place to live.
It is definitely a learning curve, and hopefully when Jerry gets another international assignment I will know all the questions to ask up front. IE: does your country have  MLS?!
Anyway, the village is Pijnacker which is near Delft and The Hague, 2 great areas. It is a 10K bike ride to Jerry's office and has public transport to Rotterdam so we can visit museums. It has 4 bedrooms, which will be nice for the kids-allowing a bit of separation.  Our plan is to leave 2 weeks from Thursday, and have the weekend to move in and get settled before Jer starts on the 5th.
We are quite busy with everyday life as well, dentist, piano, taekwando,Ashley Court, and getting ready for the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics on 2/26. Oh, and Charlotte's birthday party, pack for the family, and other minor details!
Wish me luck!!

Down time = Blog time...finally!

Though the snow failed to fly, the 2012 Special Olympics Michigan Winter Games were  a big success!
Livingston County did great! Our Snow Shoe Team took home 16 medals and 2 ribbons, of those, 2 GOLDS belonged to Charlotte. She set out to nab them and she did! Unfortunately she and Molly were in the same heats, Mol had to settle for bronze and a 4th place ribbon. In her defense, with the lack of snow all distances were cut to 75m. So instead of running her 400, she had to do a sprint, and that is not her strong suit. The Grand Traverse Resort out us up in style, we stayed in the Golf Side Condo's, and we had all our meals in the banquet hall at the hotel. The vats of Starbucks coffee available at every meal was a highlight for me, though I think the kids would choose the cream puffs! We danced, did crafts, tryed Zuumba, got massages and paraffin hand dips, bought stuff, cheered athletes on, made friends, and danced some more. A typical,fabulous SO event.
These things really fill me up--watching the coaches interact with the athletes, parents react with joy as their child succeeds, hearing the clank of the medals on Charlotte's neck as she proudly walks around the hotel--these are such special things for me.
It gives new meaning to the Transformative power of Sport!

Kylie and Charlotte

a rowing demonstration starring Annie, Kel, Becca and Molly

snow shoe team!

Molly and Will

Gary and Molly in the craft area

Charlotte was chosen to escort a Wertz Warrior, this group donates a ton of money to SO

Charlotte with some of our military

Nick aka Chicken, and Danny aka Fox!

Molly and her pal Drew Henson, QB of the Detroit Lions

The Happy Hinckas

Winter Games Traverse City

I've got an early call for my room in the morning-up at 6, on the shuttle at 6:30, and on the field at 7:50am. This morning it was 10 degrees when we went out at 8:30, maybe it will be a bit warmer tomorrow?
Since there is no snow,  all the long distance runs are cut, and the distance shoe-ers can only run 75 m.
For Molly and Charlotte this is a bummer, because with their stamina they really shine in the second part of the races. BUT- Oh well! The sun is shining, the athletes are pumped and all is right with the world. I love to be at these games. No matter how many times I've been I continue to be awed and inspired. This years theme is Everyday Heroes, and that is what these guys are-working and struggling to do their best in sports and life-they are true heroes! Pictures to post tomorrow-
love Kerry

Unpack-Wash-Pack Again-Go!

Winter Games begin tomrw in Traverse City. The girls will be representing on the snowshoe team and Danny and I will be chaperoning. the only downside?....the 3 plus hour drive! Oh well.
Danny did alot of school work and I did laundry, ran errands and had coffee with Cynthia and a nice chat with Karen. Plus packed and had Leah over this morning.
Busied tonight with a costco, snd taekwando and a fabulous episode of the Good Wife, Now trying to stay awake to blog! Go To Bed Kerry!

SuperBowl Sunday! Go Giants!

I must be honest..I'm writing this entry on Monday and I know the results of the SuperBowl...Yay! The Giants won! Jerry and Mol watched the game downstairs and rooted for New England, Danny and Charlotte and I took the family room and supported the Giants. We usually have a party, but since we arrived home at noon I just couldn,t swing it.
Flight was uneventful, thankfully. I was worried because the Captain announced that the flight would be turbulent before we  even left the ground! But it wasn't!
We got home around the same time as the girls arrived from their BBall tourney and we were all happy to see each other. We took Grandy on a long walk.
We went to mass at 5pm and Danny subbed in for an absent altar server. Afterwards we scooted home to watch the big game. My favourite commercial was the End-of-the-world Chevy truck one...what was yours?

It was all a bad dream??!!

Up at 8, out the door at 8:30, having fed Danny some of the baked goods we picked up yesterday at an Algerian Bakery we wandered past on our never ending ramble! And we ramble again. Poor Jerry, we are set to take the metro, and the stop we go to doesn't have a ticket machine. Up to the street we climb and start walking to the next stop. Yes, to answer your question, it is sunny and about 8 degrees this morning! And 2 inches of snow on the ground. Rotterdam is not big into shoveling it seems :)
Catch the metro, then walk and walk and walk, looking for street signs, and finding many streets without them. My feet freeze up much faster this time. When we arrive at our destination, Marrxinstraat, there is no number 19. We circle,  recheck, find every number up and down to 21...then nothing! Danny and I take shelter in an Arab market where I buy him a cheery hazelnut drinkable yogurt(note for future, nuts clog up the spout!) some wasa with cream cheese, a candy bar, and an apple. Provisions for the next leg of this epic hike. Jerry meanwhile has texted the agent and gotten no response. At 10:30 we finally give up and head out again. Thats it--we're done! We wait about 15 neverending minutes for the tram and ride it and the metro back to the hotel. Danny is too cold to stop to eat, so still no coffee for me. We return to our room and warm up again and we decide we need to instantly do something fun and close by. Museums are looked at and we decide to go to the NAI Museum(Netherlands Architecture Institute). Rotterdam is famous for its modern architecture because the city was virtually destroyed in WWII. Jerry's coworker Nico told Danny "the Germans took care of the demolition and the Dutch did the building!" The whole of the Netherlands is quite known for its architecture though, and this museum is a tribute to it.
First things first, a visit to the sunny cafe for my coffee! Danny tries the orange cake and a coffee as well. Now we are ready for action. The museum is fantastic. There are four museum wings, each with its own exhibit, and all are interactive and thought provoking. One was especially cool. It had an English audio which you waved in front of models of buildings and developments from all over Holland, and heard 1 or 2 of six different people talk about the building, if they liked it or not, and it was so interesting. Danny listened to every word on every building!  It was a great choice and we all loved it.

outside of the museum

a really cool reading table in the cafe

i never get tired of these coffee shots!

checking out an exhibit

this house cantilevers over the ocean in Spain

peeking into the exhibit on famous buildings in the Netherlands..want to take a look?

here you go

peek inside!

overlooking the bookstore

people can build their own houses!

a sculpture on the ceiling of the cafe

you can draw and design and build on this table

We walked back to the center , with plans to go to eat at a restaurant we had spotted on the way to the museum. As we were walking we came upon a beautiful street with a canal down the center and people skating on it. Well, I've read Hans Brinker, and there was no way we could pass up the chance to say we skated on a canal in Holland, even if it was only in shoes! So we all got out there and did a few laps, what fun and what a memory. 

a taxi and a row house

walking along the canal

skating! on a canal in Holland!

After that I told the boys "lets pretend we got up at 11:30 this morning(the time we got back from our ordeal) and we had had a bad dream that we had gone walking again and gotten frozen again, but it was only a dream" They readily agreed, so remember, the description above of this morning? It was only a dream!
Bazaar was a fantastic lively middle eastern restaurant with the best falafel I have ever eaten! Danny had baked feta and Jerry had veal and I had sweet pepper soup, and we all split a big falafel salad. So warm, so good!

the ceiling above our table at Bazaar

food shot! Falafel salad

eat your heart out Progresso!

baked feta dinner

veal meal

 Then off to get more Euros(this country is a bit pricey!) and back to the hotel for more swimming, sauna and steam room.

 Did I mention already that no one wears clothes in the sauna? Okay then!  We are ready to head home tomorrow, flight leaves at 8:30am from Amsterdam, so we're being picked up at 5:30am. No definite house yet, but some good leads from Wednesday, and lots of knowledge to help us choose on line, or when we get here.

Friday in Rotterdam--SNOW!

Well, we were in for a bit of a crazy day today. Our contact from Jerry's company completely stood us up, and the agents I had gotten in touch with were not available on such short notice. Oh well! We worked out and went swimming, and then set off to find coffee! Thing I can't wait to get home to most(other than my darling daughters of course)?? My coffee pot! I can hear it burbling now! Anyway, I digress. We head outside into15 degrees and a good stiff wind but a bright sunshine. As we are heading to the coffee shop we notice a housing agency and stop in. A great guy named Egbert welcomes us and searches for properties..aaah we think, here we go. He tells us he has two he can show us today, and he will meet us at the first one at 4pm. Hooray! Off we go to Hopper, where our waitress from yesterday waves and greets us as we stroll in. Jerry is impressed that we have already made a friend in a coffee place! Does it smell even better and feel even warmer than yesterday??? or is it just the extra chill in the air today.  Whatever the reason we happily order soups,sandwiches and hot drinks and park ourselves upstairs with a great view of the street. No sooner are we settled than the snow begins to fly! It sure is pretty to look at from inside!

we found a new favourite store!

LUNCH!

I can't spell prociuto but it was tasty

my soup and hummus/tomato sandwich on just baked bread

farmers cheese pannini!

if you need to find me when you come to visit me in Rotterdam--this is where I'll be!

the view as the storm rolls in

street view from "my " table

We reluctantly head out into the storm and start to walk to our appointment. At first it's okay, and Danny and I enjoy pointing out the shops and places we visited on Wednesday, but the snow is coming down hard and we soon just put our heads down and walk. Then Jerry's phone rings and Egbert says that because of the snow the appointments are cancelled. Now you know that wouldn't fly in Michigan! We decide to walk to the house anyway and view it from the outside. It is a bit farther than we estimated but we make it. It is on an extremely busy street, and many of the houses are vacant and for sale. Many look rehabbed, but still, we decide it would not be a good neighborhood for us and we are glad we trudged over. Now the trudge back....it takes an hour!! By the end I am walking like a chinese woman who had her feet bound at age 6..every step is painful. It is full dark and our faces are chapped and raw. Even good sport Danny is feeling the pain. Good Heavens!
We finally reach the hotel and immediately get under all the covers on the bed with all our clothes on to warm up(not Jerry, he wasn't that cold, Mr. Tough!)and thaw out. The next bit of bad news is that everything closes at 6 or seven in our immediate area, and if we plan to feed Danny, we better get out and do so! So back out we go, 2 blocks to an Italian deli where the boys get a tasty meal...I'm too cold to eat! Then home again and Danny is ready for swimming and Jerry for work-US time he has calls to be on. I end up at the pool fully dressed with my coat on, and finally my toes start making themselves known again. I spend more time on the ipad, this time communicating with another agent that says he has 2 places we can see tomorrow. Yay! We make plans, map things out, set our alarms, etc. Jerry comes up to the pool at 9:30 to say we can have the room and he will make his last call in the lobby. What a nice guy. Danny is settled in bed and I am reading when he returns, with a little cup of coffee and a cookie for me! The perfect ending to a challenging day!